A home computer at Rs 6,000!

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Hyderabad, June 27

For those looking for ultra low-cost alternatives to personal computers, here is a good news.elLoka Techsolutions, a Hyderabad-based product design and manufacturing company, has come up with a home computer that is priced at Rs 6,000.

Weighing just 130 grams, the compact processor can fit into a palm-sized box and comes with a keyboard and a mouse to be connected to a monitor or television.

Developed indigenously, the product, simply called “Home Computer” consumes less power and comes with applications such as MS Word, Excel, YouTube, Facebook, Google Docs and audio-video player.

“To begin with, we are targeting homes and educational institutions. The miniature CPU has an inbuilt memory of 24 MB and also comes loaded with applications like open office, Firefox browser, Google docs, Web Chat, photo viewer, media player, file explorer and printer output,” the company’s managing director and ex-serviceman Lt Col KA Padmanabham said.

How is it different from conventional PCs, apart from the pricing advantage?

“We have extensively studied the PC usage. In most cases, the PCs are overpowered and under-utilised, particularly in a home environment where affordability is a major constraint. We saw the scope for a home computer and not for a personal computer. The objective is to take it beyond a PC. Even the existing Internet users will be able to connect it to their TV sets either for VoIP or video chat,” the company official said.

elLoka is planning to roll out 10 lakh home computers during this financial year. It is planning to have tie-ups with Internet service providers for bundling the box with their services. At present, the company is in talks with BSNL for taking the product to masses, Lt Col Padmanabham said.

“We are also negotiating with potential partners in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Africa and some Latin American countries to export the product,” he said.

It took over two years for the company to design the processor. It has also developed its own operating system “Home OS”.

“A user can connect this tiny box to a TV. Still, he can use applications like Word, Excel and Powerpoint. The system also supports an Internet browser and is capable of playing audio and video files,” he said.

An existing Internet user can connect the net cable to the box and start browsing.

elLoka is also talking to schools for supplying the gadget along with indigenously developed content for classes III to X. Under a pilot project, the company has tied up with Beam Telecom in Hyderabad, which has 55,000 subscribers, for marketing the device to existing Internet users.

With the device, elLoka also offers educational content, stored in USB stick, for classes I to XII students. Another interesting feature of the portable device is that normal or LCD television can be used as a monitor.
 
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